Berlin Horse

This film is largely filmed with an exploration of the film medium in certain aspects. It is also concerned with making certain conceptions about time in a more illusory way than I have been inclined to explore in many other of my films. It attempts to deal with some of the paradoxes of the relationships of the "real" time which exists when the film was being shot, with the "real" time which exists when the film is being screened, and how this can be modulated by technical manipulation of the images and sequences. The film is in two parts joined by a central superimposition of the material from both parts. The first part is made from a small section of film shot by me in 8mm colour, and later refilmed in various ways from the screen in 16mm b/w. The b/w material was then printed in a negative positive superimposition through colour filters creating a continually changing 'solarization' image, which works in its own time abstractly from the image. The second part is made by treating very early b/w newsreel of a similar subject in the same way. As a two screen film the second screen has a b/w version of the whole film. A horse is seen to be running in circles, the image being distorted by changes of angle, reverse motion, and different speeds. Superimposed onto the image is a fragment of old film showing a man leading a horse from a burning barn. The film attempts to deal with some of the paradoxes of the relationship of the real time which exists when the film was being shot, with the real time which exists when the film is being screened, and how this can be modulated by technical manipulation of the image.